U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,541 issued to Bowman et al and U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,666 issued to E. J. Rozniecki disclose fire suppressant panels disposed on the inboard faces of fuel tanks in military vehicles to prevent fires that would otherwise be generated by passage of enemy projectiles through the tanks. One disadvantage of these fire-suppressant panels is that with the present state of the art knowledge these panels must be constructed of metals; as the projectile passes through the panel the shock forces produce fragmentation of the panel material. The flying fragments pose a danger to military personnel seated within the vehicle.
The present invention is directed to a substitute system for the metallic panels shown in the aforementioned patents. The substitute system contemplates a non-metallic bladder stretched across the inboard face of the fuel tank to direct pressurized suppressant from a conventional bottle into the potential fireball zone. Use of a bladder avoids the fragmentation problem present with the patented systems. The bladder is considered an alternative to the anti-fragmentation screen proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,271 issued to J. J. Mikaila.